LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Excellence Alison Quandt Westgate has announced two staff updates in the Student-Athlete Services office. Sima Suon has been elevated to director of student-athlete success & engagement, while Ben Geier will now serve as assistant director of student-athlete success.

"We are thrilled about the new responsibilities for Ben Geier and Sima Suon," said Quandt Westgate. "Their dedication to their craft, as well as their leadership in their areas of focus, have been instrumental to the growth of the Rizos Center."  

Suon, a former River Hawk track and field athlete from 2013-2017, will now be more involved with community engagement, both from a community service perspective, but also bringing in corporate partners, donors and community members to interface with the student-athletes. The goal of this new role is to expose the student-athletes to career and leadership opportunities during their time, as well as add value to the partnerships.
 
Suon joined the UMass Lowell athletics staff in the fall of 2018 as an academics and compliance assistant before being promoted to athletic academic coordinator in the fall of 2019, where she oversaw women's basketball, women's soccer, men's lacrosse and softball. For her efforts, Suon was voted as the Unsung Hero of the department by the student-athletes at the 2019 Rowdys.
 
"Sima was born and bred in Lowell and oozes what it means to be a River Hawk, and I look forward to seeing her in this expanded role that will further enhance our connections in the community," said Quandt Westgate.
 
In addition to her work here at UMass Lowell, she is a member of the USA Cambodia Basketball Association and represented Cambodia as a player-coach at the 2022 Southeast Asia Games in Hanoi, Vietnam. She graduated from UMass Lowell with a bachelor's degree in psychology before heading to the University of Miami to work in the Athletic Academic Services office while pursuing her Master of Science degree in Education & Sport Administration.
 
Geier begins this new role of assistant director of student-athlete success after two years as an athletic academic coordinator, beginning in 2022-23 and working directly with baseball, men's soccer and field hockey. In the new role, he will be spearheading the department's career development programming and liaising with the Career & Co-op office on campus.
 
"Ben is beloved in Costello and his attention to detail has set up so many of our student-athletes for success," said Quandt Westgate. "The connections he's made across campus to bring those resources to student-athletes will take our career development to the next level." 
 
He came to UMass Lowell after two years at Stony Brook, where he served as an academic success coach, working with men's lacrosse, women's swim and dive, softball and women's volleyball. He scheduled one-on-one meetings with students to advise them on their academic studies and regularly gave feedback to the coaching staff on the status of their players.
 
During his time as an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida, Geier interned with the Athletic Communications staff and worked as a research assistant at the Nicholson School of Communication. He received his bachelor's degree in human communications at UCF in 2018 before earning his master's in higher education administration from Stony Brook in May of 2022.